The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

Think your old credit score was bad?

Well, now there’s a new kind of credit score taking center stage…and setting the stage for financial institutions to make even more money off of the poorest Americans.

According to The Huffington Post, “The new CoreScore looks at financial records such as credit card borrowing, bank transactions and mortgage information, much like a traditional FICO credit score. The new rating also examines the kinds of transactions likely to occur at the lower end of the income scale. These include car and rental payments and payday loans. The CoreScore even examines the record for missed child support payments.…

Whether you’ve just concluded the bankruptcy process, been denied credit, are checking up on an identity theft incident, considering buying a home, or any other financial endeavor, it pays to check out your credit report. Why? Because when you’re trying to rebuild your credit health or prove you’re a good credit risk, it’s important to see what others see, namely your credit score.

You may already understand that you’re entitled to know what information is included in your credit reports. You may also know that you’re entitled to a free credit report each year. What you may not know is the right way to get it.…

A recent report by a reputable financial strategy and investment research firm finds that many Americans are ignoring their responsibility to manage their money. Whether by not logging-in to their checking account’s online statements or putting aside letters from the bank or credit card, one in five of us are intentionally not paying attention to our money, according to Javelin Strategy and Research.

Come folks, one in five? What are we doing out there?

We know that for many people, just talking about money in today’s conditions introduces stress. Personal finances are a hot topic in divorce court and never seem to rank in priority above Sunday football, the kids’ soccer games or Dancing With the Stars.…

This blog talks at length about savings strategies and offers a great deal of consumer spending advice. Our goal is to create an all-encompassing approach to helping readers, clients and potential clients be financially successful after bankruptcy.

Having a healthy savings account should be the goal of anyone rebuilding after bankruptcy. But after the great bank fallout of the last two years, it’s becoming hard for a lot Americans to trust some of our nation’s largest financial institutions. Not only are the rate of return on these accounts very low, it seems every day banks are surprising account holders with a sudden fee or reduction in service.…

Marriage is a partnership, and it works much better with each partner pulling his or her own weight. To avoid problems down the line, it’s a good idea for each partner to establish and maintain a separate credit identity. As a matter of fact, that is how the law will see it in all but the nine community property states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.) This means that if your spouse takes on a financial responsibility without you, you will not be legally liable for it, and vice versa. But it also means that good financial behavior on the part of your spouse won’t necessarily reflect on your credit report, even if you share in the actual payments.…

The link between the recession and credit cards is undeniable. While credit card use by itself is a number of links down the chain from the one that broke Wall Street’s hold on the economy, the underlying theme of easy credit and its impact on the American consumer remains a prevalent factor in our ongoing financial struggle.

In the majority of the posts about credit cards here on “Bankruptcy & Your Passage Into & Out of Debt,” you will read about how substantial a role credit cards play in bankruptcy. There is simply no denying it. Thankfully, the era of easy credit now seems to be fading into the sunset, evidenced by the approach global banks are starting to adapt relative to issuing credit cards.…